Phew! That was one good polo match. The 50th running of the Queen's Cup polo tournament took place on Sunday 13th June at Guards on a warm sunny afternoon.Les Lions were leading 10-9 going into the 6th chukka, but Adolfo Cambiaso and Co managed to pull the Dubai team back to win 12-10. The skills on show by all the players were quite extraordinary. I often say that polo is like rugby with horses, and top class high goal players and ponies are amazing to watch.With the Queen in attendance (albeit departing without wearing her seat belt) and a very good crowd surrounding the Queen's ground, the conditions were perfect. As usual, Guards looked impeccable, with beautifully turned out staff, stewards and spectators.
Cambiaso was supremely good, but the Les Lions II team were by no means a pushover with the Hanbury brothers working hard and playing fluently as both teams traded goal for goal. Pablo MacDonough took a fall executing a tight turn and needed checking over by the medical crew before walking almost the entire length of the field to get a new pony. An truly excellent game - a pleasure to watch.The SLIK images team of Lee and Andrew split up to cover the game, and used two-way radios to keep in touch across the green expanses of lawn. Lee was handling the opening team lineup with HDR, shooting from the sidelines at slow shutter speed, and getting the trophy presentations by the Queen. Andrew was on long-lens duty behind the goal getting those head-on rideoff shots, and on wide-angle for an aerial view of Smith's Lawn with a polariser and ND graduated filter, and some more unusual fisheye prizegiving shots with a 15mm lens. Doubling up on an event like this makes things much easier, and we are able to get far better coverage as a result.
Click for the Queen's Cup Final full photogallery.
In the Sub-Final, Enigma lost out 6-11 to El Remanso. Full picture gallery here.
